Assessment, Placement, and Advisement of Underprepared Students

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Assessment, Placement, and Advisement of
Under-prepared Students

• 2004 National NACADA Conference
• Diana McGregor, Director of Academic Advising
• Sue Cain, Director of Developmental Education
• and Academic Testing
• Eastern Kentucky University

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Eastern Kentucky University

• Located in Richmond, KY (100 miles south of
  Cincinnati)
• Comprehensive, regional university with three
  extended campus sites
• 16,000 students
• 17-1, student-faculty ratio
• Historic mission to serve the southeastern KY
  counties of Appalachia

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Identifying Under-prepared Students

• Admission criteria
• ACT or SAT scores
• Admission letters
• Orientation letters

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Orientations

• Practice placement tests available on the web
• Placement testing, scoring, and recording test
  results
• Score report for advising folders
• Academic advising
• Developmental education and advising discussion
  with parents/guests

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Developmental Policies

• Background of developmental education
• Collaboration with departments to schedule
  appropriate amount of courses
• Registration and placement for courses
• Completion of requirements
• Developmental holds on schedules
• Form for withdrawal/waiver from developmental
  courses

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New Student Days

• New students are required to attend
• Summer reading assignment book and author lecture
• Academic sessions
• Availability of ACT/placement testing
• Advisement of students who did not
  attend an orientation session

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Services for Under-prepared Students

• Office of Academic Advising and faculty advisors
• Peer mentoring
• Peer tutoring
• GSO 102 Transition to College
• High school collaborations
• First Step to College Success program

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Why focus on advising?

• Academic advising is the only structured service
  on campus in which all students have the
  opportunity for on-going, one-to-one interaction
  with a concerned representative of the
  institution.
• Wes Habley

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Developmental Advising

• A process which assists students in the creation
  of goals and plans to realize their goals.
• The advisor is a facilitator of communication, a
  coordinator of learning experiences through
  course and career planning and academic progress
  review, and an agent of referral to other
  campus agencies as needed.

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Advising Under-prepared Students

• Advisors should be direct, empathetic, and
  prescriptive when designing a plan to overcome
  deficiencies.
• It is important that advisors understand the
  prerequisite skills for the courses.

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Assist in Establishment of Locus of Control

• Advisors should assist students in developing an
  internal locus of control to understand that
  academic success occurs in large part from their
  own actions.

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Set Goals

• Assist students in setting long- and short-term
  goals and in developing and monitoring action
  plans to achieve these goals. Plan year
  schedules with student.
• Under-prepared students need to be encouraged to
  focus on their strengths. Advisors should help
  students identify strengths.
• Many students have multiple deficiencies. If
  advisors try to address all the deficiencies at
  once, it can destroy the students
  self-confidence.

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Assist students in monitoring performance

• Under-prepared students need frequent feedback
  regarding their progress. It is important that
  advisors meet regularly with advisees to discuss
  class progress.
• Ask students to give proof of their reported
  performance in classes.
• When necessary, advisors should consider
  developing a written, specific plan
  with the student for improving
  academic performance.

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Provide encouragement and guidance

• Advisors should provide under-prepared students
  with encouragement and positive feedback when
  appropriate.
• Advisors should share with advisees, particularly
  first-generation college students, ways to
  operate in the college environment.

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Assist with success outside of the classroom

• Students should be cautioned to limit or monitor
  social involvement until a solid academic record
  is established.
• Encourage students to work on campus, if they
  plan to work while in school.
• Encourage students to participate in enrichment
  programming on campus to gain a sense of
  the intellectual college
  environment.

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Look beyond college

• Under-prepared students often have a limited
  knowledge of career options, as well as an
  unrealistic understanding of the skills required
  for careers and fields.
• Encourage students to participate in career
  development courses.
• Under-prepared students may not fully understand
  skills such as timeliness, appropriate classroom
  behavior, enthusiasm, and initiative that
  are integral to both careers and life.

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Advising is providing students with what they
need to be successful---before they know they
need it. David Crockett
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Key Identifications for Success

• Identify under-prepared students prior to entry
  for programs such as First Step to College
  Success
• Identify students with high ACT scores, but low
  high school GPAs, for a faculty and staff-based
  mentoring program
• Identify and contact students not registered for
  developmental courses

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Program Evaluation

• Monitor under-prepared student achievement
• Identify and monitor progress of students early
  in the semester in Early Alert program
• Monitor grades in developmental courses
• Monitor dismissals
• Assessment of developmental students
  success in 100-level courses

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Questions and Ideas

• What are other institutions doing to address the
  needs of under-prepared students?

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EKU Websites

• Office of Academic Advising
• http//www.advising.eku.edu/
• Office of Academic Testing
• http//www.testing.eku.edu/
• Office of Developmental Education
• http//www.enrollment.eku.edu/developmental/